ETA Unicorn: $1 Billion in Revenue in 5 Years

Selling the, the owner selling the business to me. I'll go to the general manager and work a deal with him before I close and so.

And he'll run it for me and I'll collect the checks.

That is one of the many flaws with the idea that one of these businesses can run by itself. What happens when the GM quits?

That's exactly it. And I was distraught. I mean, that happened in. After all this effort, flying around the country using my own money.

I was out a lot of money at that point. And in August or September of 2020, this happened. And he wouldn't answer my phone.

He went, he was gone. He had. He didn't want to be a part of this business in any way. Even though we. I had offered him a way to earn equity and everything.

I thought, I thought it was pretty unique and special and I wasn't willing to give up. And so I started interviewing like crazy. Any. Any, you know, I was getting referrals and references and I was trying to talk to people.

I had joined Facebook groups of people in our industry and I had built some friends. I actually built a friendship with a guy that was the number two of a competitor and it kind of a neighboring city. We became friends and.

After a bunch of failed offers and other people that I thought could be the general manager, this guy. We came to a deal. I remember standing in my garage and it was just. It was raining like crazy.

And that was kind of my office. And we had, we had inked a deal and I signed it, took a picture of it, sent it to him, and he signed it. And Sent it back to me.

And I was like, okay, this is going to work. This is going to be great. Two days later he calls me up, he's like, Steve, I can't leave.